The World of the Creatures - Teaser Chapter
by pmraptor98
Summary: 19-year-old, Brendan Anderson went to sleep at the University of Vermont, only to wake up the next morning in a gigantic, tropical jungle. In just a few hours, he encounters aliens, dinosaurs, creatures from the future...and Batman! Working together with others mysteriously brought to this place, they must find out where they are, and how they'll be able to get back home.


**Author's Notes  
**

**As the title suggests this is only a teaser chapter - NO MORE OF THIS STORY WILL BE POSTED ON THIS WEBSITE! Why? Because this story is, in part, a Real Person Fic. FF . net has a no RPF policy. I mean, yeah, sure, I'm sure I could hide it easily amid the vast archives, but...eh. It puts me off.**

**BUT**

**If you like what you see here, and want to continue reading, the link to the rest of the story - as well as more info on just what kind of story it is - is on my profile page here. The story is currently hosted at archive of our own, which doesn't have a No RPF policy. I'm up to 9 chapters so far. The rest of the story has already been written, it just needs to be revised. I've been working on this story for years now, and unfortunately, Archive of our Own just doesn't have the same draw that FF . net has. So I would greatly appreciate any thoughts or feedback on that story. You can post reviews either here or there, either way works. Thanks for taking the time to look at it!**

**Also, Chapter 1 doesn't stop here. I just cut it off because this is when the RPF stuff starts to show up. So if you want to keep reading, don't just skip to Chapter 2. **

He lay there in the late morning, and all at once his senses failed him. His ears were flooded with strange calls echoing from far away, some like singing birds but many of a distinct and alien nature. He opened his eyes, and saw directly above him huge trees with leaves so healthy and strong they seemed to glow. Their branches reached up higher and higher, crossing one another again and again until it seemed that darkness had come even at high noon. Lastly, the air was hot and wet, filling his limbs with a queasy weight, forcing him to keep lying though he wished so much to get up. After a moment of uneasy stillness, he shot up panting, his head turning to every side, but everywhere he looked it was the same: deep, radiant, impenetrable jungle.

_…Trees?...Lots of trees. __Forest. __Hot, wet, steaming, tropical forest…_

Slowly, Brendan was able to get to his feet, but was having some trouble as his cloak was getting in the way, which also surprised him. He had not put on his cloak before going to sleep last night, and yet it was on him now and he was fully dressed. Something was also dangling by his waist on the left side, and he pulled back his cloak to reveal a sword – his sword that he bought at a Renaissance Fair for his 18th birthday. Peering down at the hilt, he took a moment to examine the rest of him.

_Sword? __Sword, cloak…black pants, black sweatshirt, black shirt, black boots. __Hair? __Yes, long blond hair…face, eyes, ears, nose, fingers…lots of fingers, arms, legs…_

Standing at full height, the initial grogginess now completely replaced by shock and confusion, his eyes were wide and his mouth was agape. He tried to speak, but his voice was caught by the surprise. At last, he was able to mutter a single, flat word.

"What?!"

He let out two or three laughs, his mind utterly failing to understand his surroundings. He paced from one tree, and to another, peering behind but seeing only more bush. The distant calls continued but he was deaf to them. Thoughts were racing faster than his heart, questions shooting out like arrows. _What?! __Where?! __How?!_

No answers came, and he stopped pacing, stopped by an all-consuming dread. He became absorbed by even more questions about his predicament - _What has happened? How did I get here? Where_ is _here? How did I get into my cloak and sword? _ But he was left with not a single answer. He grasped his head in utter frustration, and let out a hard grunt as he pulled his hands away from his long blonde hair, holding them by his side, clawing his fingers in irritation.

He stopped for a moment, and heard something behind him. It was not a call or screech, but rather a low, deep breathing, and it was anything but distant. Brendan could tell even without looking that the breather was big, and unlikely to be human. Brendan slowly turned his head around, and his body quickly followed. His heart began pounding so hard he thought it might actually break his ribs, and his blood chilled to a startling cold.

Standing about a hundred feet away was a monster Brendan had seen before only in a film. The skin was a deep, dark blue and shined like metal in the dappled sun light. It possessed six limbs: two legs and four arms, though it walked upon all six. The four front legs were heavily muscled, and at their ends were huge, hand-like paws with four digits tipped with savage, curved claws. The body tapered down to shorter back legs, and a long flat, paddle-shaped tail. The skull was huge and long, and had two large yellow eyes that stared back at Brendan with ferocious intensity. The muzzle was long and ended without any lip as four terrible black fangs grew from the front. On the back of the head were six rectangular plates tipped with a total of ten quills, and two long tentacle-like organs writhed behind them.

As the two of them stared at each other, time died away. Each player waited to see who dared to make the next move. The beast was poised to pounce and Brendan footed himself to dash away. The only thing that passed between them was the creature's breath, which was snorted through spiracles positioned on the chest.

Before either one of them could blink, the chase was on. In preparation for the kill, the creature curled up two flaps of skin around its hideous maw, exposing even more gruesome fangs. This movement sent Brendan shooting away. The predator leaped toward him, and closed the distance in a matter of seconds. Brendan sensed that his attacker was upon him, and so he dodged behind a large tree. The creature tried to follow him, but Brendan kept close to the bark and circled away, using the tree as a barrier. The creature, realizing that it could not directly get at him, instead tried reaching around for its prey. It reared up and reached across with its four arms, clawed hands snatching at empty air as Brendan leaped away from them. The creature hadn't noticed this yet, and so continued blindly searching for him. Something in Brendan's mind snapped, and he quickly saw an opportunity. He unsheathed his sword and with more strength than he had ever mustered drove the weapon into the creature's wrist.

Brendan didn't bother to observe the creature's reaction, but it let out a horrifying, shrill roar as it quickly leaped back and nursed its injured hand. Brendan seized upon the chance, and with the creature distracted, he took off racing through the under brush heading into denser cover. The creature was delayed, but hunger drove it on, and with a slight limp it charged after Brendan.

Brendan used the lower thicker limbs as barriers to keep the creature at bay, ducking under low branches and jumping over ferns. He feared that his cumbersome cloak would invariably get caught on the wealth of thicket around him, and yet it seemed to flow smoothly over every possible encumbrance. _Huh, that's weird…_ The creature had lost the advantage of speed, but it swam elegantly through the thicker foliage in its attempts at seizing its prey_. __But that's okay, weird is good!_

Just as Brendan was beginning to hope for his survival, his optimism died as he came to a huge gorge running straight through the land. There was no bridge, either natural or man-made, and so he felt he had reached the end. But in his eagerness to stay alive, Brendan looked up, and saw that some of the trees had branches that stretched out far over the gorge. They were draped in long, thick vines; vines Brendan calculated could probably hold his weight. With the predator still struggling to keep up, Brendan quickly began climbing one such tree. It was fairly easy, as there were many branches and other areas of leverage for him to exploit. He was well up the tree when the creature reached the edge of the gorge. It spotted Brendan in the tree, and followed him up, its hands bearing thumbs to make the task easier. Brendan panicked, and reached for one of the vines. He grabbed it as the creature came within striking distance. He swung down, hoping that the vine would swing to the other side. Instead it merely dangled him over the center of the ravine.

Luckily, he had at least escaped his pursuer, for the branch he swung from was too thin to support a creature of its size. It backed down off the tree and prowled impatiently along the edge of the pit. It glared at Brendan, and would let out loathsome snarls at him. After about 15 minutes, the determined creature finally gave up, disappearing into the jungle to find easier prey.

Brendan let out a sigh of relief, but having escaped one danger, he focused on the other. The chasm below was so deep that the bottom was obscured by shadow. Brendan thought he could see forms moving about on the bottom, but he tried not to think about whose forms they were. He held tight, but he knew that if it he could not figure out a solution in time, his strength would fail, and he would be able to hold on no longer.

With imminent danger gone for the moment, Brendan took some time to think about his predicament, and spoke to himself. "So I'm on Pandora…but wait, wasn't the air on Pandora deadly to humans? But it must be, huge jungles and a thanator! _A thanator_ for crying out loud!" He was at an utter loss, but remembering that Pandora was also home to intelligent creatures, even humans for a while, he tried his hand at calling out, "HEY! CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME? IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE!?" There was no immediate response, though he really wasn't expecting any. After about five minutes, he thought he'd try again, "HELLO! I NEED HELP! IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN HELP ME?!"

Once again he was not expecting any real response, but to his shock, there was one. It was somewhat distant, but at least he could tell that it was coming from somewhere to his left on the opposite side of the gorge. "HOLD ON! I'M COMING!" It was a woman's voice, and it couldn't have been more than half a mile away.

"OKAY!" Brendan answered. He strained his eyes, hoping to see his rescuer as soon as she would appear. After about ten minutes, he caught sight of a figure coming through the undergrowth; a human figure. It was too dark to see clearly, but Brendan's heart sang knowing that help was within sight. When his helper came within clear view, Brendan's joy turned to shock

**So, what did you think? Where is Brendan? How did he get there? Who's this mysterious woman? How will he be able to get back home? To find the answers to these questions, and more, follow the link provided in my profile here. Remember to review! Feedback is better than Christmas!**


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